GLORY
Full Name: Glory
Phase: Development
Launch Date: January 23, 2010
Mission Project Home Page: http://glory.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Program(s): Earth Systematic Missions
Understanding the Earth' s energy balance and the effect on climate requires measuring black carbon soot and other aerosols, and the total solar irradiance. Glory is a low Earth orbit (LEO) scientific research satellite designed to collect data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon in the Earth's atmosphere. Glory will also collect data on solar irradiance for the long-term effects on the Earth climate record.
The Glory mission's scientific objectives are met by implementing two separate science instruments, one with the ability to collect polarimetric measurements along the satellite ground track within the solar reflective spectral region (0.4 to 2.4 micrometers) and one with the ability to monitor changes in sunlight incident on the Earth's atmosphere by collecting high accuracy, high precision measurements of total solar irradiance. Glory accomplishes these objectives by deploying two instruments aboard a low Earth orbit satellite, the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS) and the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM). Additionally, a cloud camera system will provide images that allow the APS scans along the spacecraft ground track to be put into spatial context and to facilitate determination of cloud occurrence within the APS instantaneous field of view.
The Glory mission will respond to the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) by continuing and improving upon NASA's research of the forcings influencing climate change in the atmosphere. As summarized below, measurements produced by this mission and the scientific knowledge such observations will provide are essential to predicting future climate change, and to making sound, scientifically based economic and policy decisions related to environmental change.
The science objectives of the Glory mission include:
- The determination of the global distribution, microphysical properties, and chemical composition of natural and anthropogenic aerosols and clouds with accuracy and coverage sufficient for a reliable quantification of the aerosol direct and indirect effects on climate;
- The continued measurement of the total solar irradiance to determine the Sun's direct and indirect effect on the Earth's climate.